RPG Review – Tribes Most Foul: Orcs

The second installment of the “Tribes Most Foul”-series is 14 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page advertisement, 2 pages of editorial, 1 page ToC/foreword, 1 page advice on how to read statblocks, 1 page SRD and 1 page back cover, leaving us with 6 pages of content, so let’s take a look, shall we?

As the first installment in the series, this one introduces us to new tribes, 3 to be precise. The first of these are the orcs of the bear’s hide – more in touch with serenity and calmer, but no less aggressive, these orcs coexist with owlbears and their less magical kin and we also get a full tribal roster, a lore section and fluff writ-ups of 3 notable NPCs – two of which get statblocks: The barbarian 7 Thalgas and the tribe’s mascot advanced owlbear Groot – oh, have I mentioned their potential leadership conflict or the fact, how they are slowly trying to expand their territory.

The second tribe would be the Orcs of the Shattered Shield – created from the remnants of a vanquished orcish horde, these survivors of failure have learned stealth the very hardest way and their ramshackle, different customs have blended together in a strange amalgam. And, having their genesis in war, are better equipped than one would expect from an orcish tribe. We again get a lore-section, a tribal roster and 4 fluff write-ups as well as the leader Maurg, a barbarian 2/fighter 2/rogue 1 build – nice when story is reflected in builds like this.

The final tribe then are the orcs of the silvered backs – and oh boy are they awesome. The first two tribes were good – this one oozes iconicity: Led by a savage orcish druid who has installed an awakened dire ape as the leader of the tribe, these orcs are feral throwbacks that would make for great, deadly jungle-style/dark wood adventure, working as a degenerate-seeming throwback of primal savagery. In an age where World of Warcraft has made the perception of orcs more civilized, this one brings the fear back – I love it! The tribe also comes with its tribal roster – including two fluff write-ups, a lore section and the statblock for the awakened dire ape ranger/barbarian.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn’t notice any glitches. Layout adhere to RSP’s 2-column b/w-standard and the pdf comes with nice stock-art that is thematically-fitting. The pdf comes fully bookmarked and in two versions, one of which is optimized for screen-use and one for print-use.

Author Ben Kent has created a great supplement with 3 orc tribes that feel distinct from your run-of-the-mill tribes and all come with their own cultural peculiarities, offering us glorious tribes for a very fair price. More unique than the last installment, these orcs provide all killer, no filler content and are well worth 5 stars + seal of approval.

Endzeitgeist out.

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